Winter Park / Live Music: ‘Just a simple guy’ with the ‘magic touch’

With the eminent arrival of spring, many familiar faces are returning to the area, including Glen Jones who begins his third season playing guitar for guests at the Gasthaus Eichler.

For “just a simple guy” who loves to play his guitar for people, Jones is best known for his musical “magical touch” and his audience rapport – especially with the ladies in his audiences. Some, he admits, have even started crying while listening to him play.

“I have the magic,” he said. “People can hear my love for what I do in my voice.”

He plays tambourine and a little mandolin, but his favorite instrument is an acoustic guitar, a silver anniversary, limited-edition Takamine he holds dear but hasn’t named – yet.

“My Takamine is a beautiful white guitar with gold tuner keys. When I saw it, I had to have it,” he said. He’s “had it for 20 years” now, one of only 500 made available (Jackson Browne and Bruce Springsteen are known to have one of the rare guitars as well).

Family obligations gave Jones a late start on his musical career. Just before he turned 30, he and some friends started a classic and popular rock band called “Glen Jones and the Hormones” and he played with them for a decade as one of their two singers.

“We never made a penny but we rocked,” he said.

After that, he met a girl who taught him to play guitar and a little bit of mandolin and Jones played in about four different duos, including one with her.

Since that time, he has been a solo act for about 10 years and has toured the United States, Canada and Europe.

He said Colorado is “the most beautiful place I have ever been.” While vacationing in the area, Jones dropped by the Gasthaus and gave owner Joan Weder a CD and song list. She liked it so much she offered him a job entertaining diners and, he said, it’s “the best job in the world.”

“Playing at the Gasthaus is a dream I’m living, and I’m going to live the dream as long as I can.”

His music covers just about every genre, with songs for every walk of life. His vast repertoire includes songs from the 1960s to the 1980s, including songs from Paul Simon, Gordon Lightfoot, the Eagles, the Beatles, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan and Jim Croce; and easy listening musicians like Bette Midler.

He enjoys playing any song that makes people cry or dance.

Favorites include “Country Roads,” the first song he learned to play on guitar and a favorite throughout Europe, “Boxer” and “anything by Gordon Lightfoot.” About 10 songs on his repertoire are originals he’s composed.

Jones, who has been dividing his time between St. Louis, Mo. and the Fraser Valley for the past 25 years.

He can be found playing at the Gasthaus Eichler Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays through the summer. When he’s not in the Valley entertaining diners at the Gasthaus, Jones helps produce a music variety show back home he’s very proud of called the “Acoustic Cafe.” The show even appeared on Public Access, reaching the homes of more than 250,000 people every Monday night for five years.

Jones’ compilation album “Leaves Home” was released in 2000 and he hopes to produce a new CD by the end of this summer. He’s working on two originals currently, “I Love You, Colorado” and a slow love song titled, “I Don’t Know Why I Love You Like I Do.” He’ll be trying them out on his summer audiences.